Those of us who follow the Christian tradition are currently in the middle of Lent: a season where we turn inward, reflect about our lives, sometimes take on or give up certain things. You can give up more than sweets or alcohol: this year I “gave up” driving one day a week (among other things), which has been a very interesting experience.
Sacrifice seems to be a concept a lot of people talk about, but not very many want to do. We hear endless talk about sacrificing for the War on Terror: yet, when a true national emergency hit, our president urged us to go to the mall. We are currently at war in Iraq, with tens of thousands of our young people wounded or killed, but unless you know (or are) one of these young people, it’s easy to ignore the entire thing and just focus on the latest example of American Idol. We admire people who sacrifice, they are heroes, but they don’t tend to be emulated.
Which brings me to General Wesley Clark and how he embodies a spirit of service and sacrifice. Someone with his gifts and abilities could probably have done just about anything. He could have gone into business, or politics, yet he chose to serve his country in the armed force. After he retired from the service, again, he could have become a lobbyist for a defense contractor, sat on boards of directors and made enormous sums of money. After his first presidential campaign, he could have, once again, retired from public life, written books, sat on more corporate boards, played with his grandchildren - in short, had a very nice life.
At every turn, though, he has chosen to continue serving his country. After being wounded in Vietnam, he stayed in the service, helping to rebuild the Army. After ending his career (and stopping a potential genocide) as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, he ran for president; and when he didn’t get the nomination, campaigned tirelessly for Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry. He has spent the last two years advising Congress on national security issues, recruiting and campaigning for Congressional Candidates and speaking out against our Administration’s current, misguided foreign policy.
Here we are in Lent – and here General Clark is, doing the exact same thing. Instead of putting himself first and getting out on the campaign trail for the next presidential campaign, General Clark is trying to stop President Bush’s next war before it even starts – a potential war with Iran. Instead of trading barbs with his opponents, attending church services, or bickering over fund-raisers, General Clark is hosting national security conferences, appearing on talk shows and filming videos – but not on his own behalf. On ours.
Like stopping a genocide, stopping a war isn’t sexy. It isn’t exciting. You won’t get a victory parade or huge celebrity for stopping a war. It may even (although I hope not!) cost General Clark the chance to run for president. But General Clark is willing to do it. He is willing to sacrifice his own ambitions and wishes and time and hopes to avert our country from a course that he believes is destructive. He is willing to put his loyalty to his country over his own personal goals and wishes.
Isn’t this the sort of person we want to run our country? Are we so engulfed with celebrity culture that we are willing to let the media select our candidates for this critical job? Are we willing to allow our presidential election – this free election that so many of our ancestors fought and died and struggled to preserve – turn into a celebrity sideshow?
I hope not. I pray not. And, I think not.
As a first step, I hope that all voters out there will take a serious look at all potential candidates. Read up on them. Study them. Choose the one who most closely embodies your hopes and wishes and ideals. Choose the one you believe will be the best president, even if you’re in total disagreement with this entire column. Talk to your friends, neighbors and relatives.
I further urge all readers to at least visit and consider signing the Stop Iran War petition at http://stopiranwar.com When I talked to some people about this last week, they scoffed and said that Bush would never do this. Well, maybe not – but how will they (and you) feel if he does do this and good people did nothing?
Thank you – and may the blessings (or good wishes) of whatever tradition you follow or don’t be with you on this Sunday.
- TheAbbess
Abbess: a Very nice blog and essay.
In case you haven’t already heard about it, I’m on the verge of having a political parable published about undoing all of Bush’s support…while proving that Wes is the best man to replace him. It’s set in the context of a teacher discussing with his adult students all the evidence that the Bush administration is as corrupt as they are incompetent. I took the liberty of writing in comedians and our favorite political commentators to play the students, so it’s very funny despite how infuriating it is….and every day since I wrote the first draft Bush keeps making it more relevant than the day before. I’ve had Bush supporters change their minds about him and had a WWII vet say, “You made me feel guilty for not paying attention to Clark in 04!”
And as “The Fighting Dem” said about it: “You have cleverly used the Liberal entertainers to drive home and teach the horrendous lesson that the policies of the Bush Administration have not only failed us time and time again, but have caused damage to the U.S. that will be hard to repair. I think that this is an absolute tribute to Wes, and that you are indeed, a TRUE fan of Wes Clark.
Thank you for sending this to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Someone from Daily Kos wrote to me that she felt like she had PTSD from reading it. And I could go on about some of the accolades I’ve received for it; like the soldier I met online who that he wants to shake my hand.
You can access the word doc from my geocities page at clarkvsbush.com or ask me to email it to you.
My goodness Jay – you troll the web reincarnating with different names everywhere and always telling the same tale. You’ve been doing this for eons now and its very dishonest of you.
This is a beautiful website and you really should not have posted your dreck here.
Hi all!
Bye
sffio